Afzal Guru hanged:Rahul Gandhi dares threats, visits Tripura

Agartala, Feb 11: India has been experiencing the aftereffects of Afzal Guru execution followed by several terror threats from different militant groups. Despite such security concern, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi did not cancel his visit to Tripura and arrived at the north-eastern state to attend election campaign rallies.

After arriving at Agartala airport on Monday, Feb 11, Rahul would fly by a helicopter to Sonamura in Sipahijala district to address a poll rally in support of the subdivision's four candidates.

Speaking about the Feb 14 assembly election in the state, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) spokesperson Ashok Sinha was quoted as saying, "We are expecting that our campaign will get a major boost from Rahulji's meetings."

According to sources, Rahul would attend poll meetings in four corners of the state including Shantir Bazar subdivision in South Tripura, Dharmanagar sub-divisional town in North Tripura and Khayerpur.

The young Gandhi family scion impressed many with his decision of not calling off his programme in Tripura. Earlier Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cancelled their trips to the Left-ruled state due to security reasons.

Government sources earlier on Sunday informed that the Dr Singh postponed his trip to Nagaland and northeastern states due to some work related to Afzal Guru's execution.

Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman said, "The prime minister has cancelled his trip due to urgent administrative work in Delhi in connection with Afzal Guru's execution."

Meanwhile, another government official said, "We have received a message from the union home ministry that Congress president Sonia Gandhi cancelled her visit to Tripura to campaign for the Feb 14 elections. She was scheduled to address two public meetings here and Kumarghat in northern Tripura on Sunday."

The 43-year-old Parliament attack convict was hanged and buried in Tihar jail premises in Delhi in a secret operation on Saturday. Media reports claimed that Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had threatened to attack all main cities of the country taking revenge on Guru's execution.